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Uniqueness of integer solution of linear equations

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Abstract

We consider the system of m linear equations in n integer variables Ax = d and give sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of its integer solution x ∈ {−1, 1}n by reformulating the problem as a linear program. Necessary and sufficient uniqueness characterizations of ordinary linear programming solutions are utilized to obtain sufficient uniqueness conditions such as the intersection of the kernel of A and the dual cone of a diagonal matrix of ±1’s is the origin in R n. This generalizes the well known condition that ker(A) = 0 for the uniqueness of a non-integer solution x of Ax = d. A zero maximum of a single linear program ensures the uniqueness of a given integer solution of a linear equation.

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Correspondence to O. L. Mangasarian.

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Mangasarian, O.L., Ferris, M.C. Uniqueness of integer solution of linear equations. Optim Lett 4, 559–565 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-010-0183-0

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